The Exam Results Helpline will be open at 8am on Thursday, August 14 to back up your planning with expert, impartial advice on UCAS Extra, Clearing, apprenticeships, retakes, gap years, alternatives to higher education and any other options you'd like to know more about.

Students who take part are able to see the world beyond the bubble they grew up in and return to school with a better perspective of their future, said Holly Bull, president of the Center of Interim Programs, which counsels students on taking gap years.

two negative perceptions about gap years prevail: Taking a year off before college is only for affluent students, and doing so sets students back because they step oft the high school-to-college "conveyor belt," said Abby Falik, who in 2009 founded Global Citizen Year, a nonprofit based in Oakland, Calif.

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